5 Ways to Be Completely Anonymous Online

5 Ways to Be Completely Anonymous Online

Anonymity while surfing on the internet is not easy to maintain. Attackers and government agencies alike keep a track of your web activity and identity, with the former trying to infiltrate your system and violate your privacy. A lot has been going on recently to ring people’s minds with the fact that nobody is safe on the internet these days. Recently, the Ashley Madison Hack compromised over 37 million users. Now that is a staggering amount. It only goes to show how little people do to protect their identity and be anonymous while surfing on the internet.

Cyber terrorism is one of the biggest threats of the 21st century not because it can target entire economies, but because it can affect and destroy the lives of more people than a traditional terrorist attack. That being said, it is difficult to fend off attackers with a 100 percent success rate on your personal system. That is why we look to help you be completely, or near completely, anonymous online with the following methods.

Anonymizing Operating Systems

There are Operating Systems that can be booted via removable media every time you turn on your system. Linux Live Distro is a prime example of this class of Operating Systems. Live OSes like Tails focus keenly on the privacy and security of their users, so they are a good way to be anonymous online. You can even use Virtual Machines, or better still, use a Live OS on a Virtual Machine to achieve the best results.

Tor

Tor-enabled browsers are referred to as anonymizing browsers. You only need to enter a Tor network path, and the traffic will be directed via random Tor nodes, helping you maintain your anonymity. Using Tor exclusively though is not a great option as it can be bypassed as well as it greatly slows down connection speed. Coupling it with anonymizing OSes can be a good idea.

Refrain from Using Google

Google is the one search engine nobody can do without, only that it is one of the biggest threats to your privacy. Google tracks your location and identity with staggering efficiency, making it one of the biggest enemies of anonymity online. Instead, you can use DuckDuckGo search engine. Its search results are not as huge and accurate as Google’s, but it has garnered a good reputation for not invading your privacy.

Don’t use Credit Cards

Credit Cards, other than running the risk of attackers stealing your financial details and robbing you off your entire bank balance, are one of the biggest and easiest ways to track the identity and location of the user. Even services like PayPal are directed through a bank account. So it is better to stick to anonymous paying options like bitcoin.

Use Anonymous Connection Methods

Connecting from different locations and networks is a simple way to prevent users from finding out your real geographical location. As tardy as it may sound, it could work quite well. You can also use devices that are built specifically for this purpose, like ProxyGambit. It connects you to your destination through a network that is thousands of miles away from your system via a reverse tunnelled GDM bridge.

Conclusion

Privacy is everyone’s right, so it is not fair that one would have to fight for it with the odds stacked so unfavourably against him. But necessity is the mother of invention, and in this age where cyber-crimes are so common, the necessity of staying anonymous has resulted in methods discussed in this article to spring up. You can find other methods for yourselves as well to strengthen your guard further.

Image from Shutterstock.

Important: Never invest (trade with) money you can't afford to comfortably lose. Always do your own research and due diligence before placing a trade. Read our Terms & Conditions here. Trade recommendations and analysis are written by our analysts which might have different opinions. Read my 6 Golden Steps to Financial Freedom here. Best regards, Jonas Borchgrevink.

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Ali is a freelance journalist, having 5 years of experience in web journalism and marketing. He contributes to various online publications. With a master degree, now he combines his passions for writing about internet security and technology. When he is not working, he loves traveling and playing games.

7 Comments

Ilya Geller

September 21, 2015 at 3:10 pm

Don’t search on Internet if you want to have privacy intact!
For instance, Google wants to know what a searcher had for dinner yesterday because this information helps Google to find that chicken breast is preferred; and Google sells the searchers’ QUERY and preferences in meat to advertisers: Google exploits that people search on Internet using QUERIES.
Does not matter what you would try, keeping your privacy for yourself – you stay alone against organizations that make money violating and selling your privacy.
However, Internet can exist without searching, without QUERIES: an advertiser of chicken meat puts his structured advertisement on Internet and the ad searches for people by itself, based on people’s profiles of structured data, which the profiles belong to people, are their property, in their computers and contain information on their preferences in meet. (Read on my name, ‘Ilya Geller’, about my discovery how to structure data.) The use of structured data guarantees you 105% privacy!
People passively receive information, they don’t search, don’t use QUERIES.
So, I solved the problem of Internet privacy.

In my opinion TOR is to be completely avoided.
IT WAS CREATED BY THE U.S. MILITARY.
(I think it was the Navy, I don’t remember)
It has built-in back doors which are completely
transparent to those who know how to access them.

As far as the rest of it goes, I think most of it is
overkill and a big pain in the butt and not really
all that effective.

Point #1
I really don’t care if Google taylors the advertisements that
I see.
Advertisements keep the internet and most of it’s
content completely free.
Google, although they can not avoid some of the demanded
“cooperation” foisted off on them by the government,
appears to me to have at least “some” sense of responsibility.

Point #2
The propaganda machine in this country (USA),
has as it’s primary mission to keep the public in
a state of constant fear.
So constant and pervasive that being stressed-out and in an
emotional state of fear starts to seem completely normal.
(This is one of the primary reasons that people do
drugs and alcohol and other stupid sht)

How about this for a possible scenario……
What if the government doesn’t actually have enough
equipment or manpower or even effective software to
be able to monitor even one tenth of a percent of the
traffic on the internet ???

What if all the “breaches of national security” are just
fictional stories designed to keep you in fear and
create an excuse for bombing some other country ???

What if all of the attacks on credit card info are
completely made-up out of thin air ???

All you have to do to put everyone into a panick about
“cyber security” is to have 2 or 3 people swear that they had
their entire identity stolen and their bank account cleaned out
by evil hackers from China or Russia.

Point #3
If you really want to do something really effective and
useful, start looking into how YOU can help to
DECENTRALIZE THE ENTIRE INTERNET.
And, at the same time, encript ALL information packets so
that only the intended recipient can make any sense out of it.
And, at the same time, do your part, as much as you can,
to install and run a MeshNet Node,
(basically just a high powered router)
in your car, at your house, and at your workplace.

These Nodes could also contain a substantial computer and
loads of memory for assistance with DNS chores as well as
caching of larger data transfers for your own use, or
the benefit of others nearby.
They can also operate as a standalone relay point, as well as
supplying your internet needs, either or both.
This will make the internet super fast and bulletproof,
with complete security.

Point #4
Virtually everything bad on this planet is either
directly, or indirectly, caused by a relatively small
number of completely insane bankers who think
they were born to rule the world.
Their days are numbered, and they know it.
Things will most likely get really ugly before they get better.
What you dwell upon in your head is
what you will experience in reality.
Visualize your perfect world every chance you get.
Do not be afraid, regardless of what you experience.
Do anything you can to make the world a better place.
You may be the one that makes the difference.
.
……Jim
.
.
.

For anonymity i think its good idea to use Linux distribution proven to be opensource and privacy targeted. Installation should by luks-dmcrypt encrypted.

Next thing is Tor browser bundle. Most of the anonymity OSes using this web browser.

Next thing is email. There search at google: Tor hidden email. Example i tried mail2tor.com which i quite trust. Ofcourse you access such service via Tor so they dont know what is your real IP. Moreover you use multiple email addresses so multiple online activities are not tracked to one single email identity.

Next thing are payments. Bitcoin is not anonymous, unless one use so called “coin mixing service”, but im unsure which one is good. Some people use perfectmoney.is, they should be located “offshore”.

At the end, very important is not to use single password for everything. Password should be based on random string. If you have to save passwords and sensitive info., do it in an encrypted way, for example using opensource KeePass.

Stop using services that you registered with real IP or ask them to be cancelled.

Bitcoin’s Year-to-Date Return

Bitcoin still has recorded a massive price increase of 14-fold, from $1,000 to $14,000. But, other cryptocurrencies in the market such as Ripple have recorded a staggering 163.5-fold increase in value. Merely a $1,000 dollar investment in Ripple in the beginning of 2017 would have led to a profit of $162,500, while an investment in bitcoin would have led to $14,000.

Yearly bitcoin price growth provided by Coinbase

The top three cryptocurrencies in the market bitcoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash have less potential to increase by large margins in comparison to cryptocurrencies with market valuations of less than $10 billion. Unless the entire cryptocurrency market surges exponentially and the valuation of the market grows to many trillions of dollars by the end of 2018, in the short-term, it is unlikely that leading cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash will record an astronomical surge in value, by more than 100-fold.

Billionaire hedge fund investor Mike Novogratz, Fundstrat’s Tom Lee, and highly respected financial analyst Max Keiser have established an interim price target of bitcoin at around $50,000, which would place the market valuation of bitcoin at $1 billion. Solely in terms of price growth, a $50,000 target would be a 3.5-fold increase in value over a 12-month period.

Consequently, many investors in the market have started to diversify their investments into other cryptocurrencies, and the trend has been evident in the decline of the dominance index of bitcoin. Three cryptocurrencies at the top of the market are considered as reserve assets or safe haven assets. They have low risk but low returns. That is, a low return relative to other cryptocurrencies in the market. Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ethereum have drastically outperformed all of the currencies and assets in the traditional finance sector year-to-date.

John McAfee for instance, has emphasized the necessity of private or anonymous cryptocurrencies like Dash, Monero, and Zcash, as in the future, more investors will seek out for cryptocurrencies that are capable of providing a high level of confidentiality.

Combination of Low-Risk and High-Risk Cryptocurrencies

A healthy portfolio of cryptocurrencies would be a certain amount of funds spread across both strong low-risk cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash, and high-risk cryptocurrencies with lower market caps like Monero, Zcash, and Dash.

Squeeze, a prominent cryptocurrency trader, noted that price is not an accurate representation of the size of a cryptocurrency. Rather, investors should consider the market valuation of a cryptocurrency to decide its potential and space to grow.

“For new investors in crypto, think in market cap. Not price per coin. Market cap gives an estimate of the potential growth. Price per coin doesn’t mean anything as the supply for each altcoin differs $0.1 per coin doesn’t mean it’s cheap $100 per coin doesn’t mean it’s expensive,” said Squeeze.

An example of a high market cap but low price cryptocurrency is Ripple. The market valuation of Ripple is at nearly $40 billion but its cryptocurrency remains at $1. Meanwhile, Dash, Litecoin, and Monero have tokens valued at more than $300. Yet, their market valuations are substantially lower than that of Ripple.

For investors and bitcoin holders that have seen significant returns over the past few years, diversifying funds across unique and potent cryptocurrencies could lead to better returns in the short-term.

Featured image courtesy of Shutterstock.

Important: Never invest (trade with) money you can't afford to comfortably lose. Always do your own research and due diligence before placing a trade. Read our Terms & Conditions here. Trade recommendations and analysis are written by our analysts which might have different opinions. Read my 6 Golden Steps to Financial Freedom here. Best regards, Jonas Borchgrevink.

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3.5 stars on average, based on 3 rated postsJoseph Young is a finance and tech journalist based in Hong Kong. He has worked with leading media and news agencies in the technology and finance industries, offering exclusive content, interviews, insights and analysis of cryptocurrencies, innovative and futuristic technologies.

On Speculative Bubbles, Strategies, FOMO, and Early Exits

In the 16 years that I have spent observing and trading the markets, there were several incredible events that changed how I look at investments. The bull market in stocks that is fuelled by free money, the Lehman-Crash, and the Dot-Com bubble were among them. To be clear, the current cycle in cryptocurrencies is not one of those, even as some of the coins routinely double daily.

Why is that? Because the dynamics behind the moves are familiar; precious metals in 2011, the Chinese stock market a couple of times in the past 10 years, oil in 2008, the Dot-Com bubble, and so on. All of these trends had an eerily similar dynamic, although the exact path of price movements and the volatility of the moves differed substantially.

“History doesn’t Repeat itself but often Rhymes”

Allegedly Mark Twain observed that, and I couldn’t agree more. As a certain topic goes through boom-bust cycles with spectacular gains and higher and higher bottoms, it naturally draws in new investors that are standing on the sidelines waiting for confirmation of some sorts.

After a while, as publicity rises, the success stories go mainstream, and the number of participating investors multiplies, the market reaches an inflection point where the influx of capital won’t be enough to hold the marginal selling by the already invested public. To be precise, this inflection “point” is sometimes a longer period of grinding gains, one blow-off advance, or another topping pattern such as a double top for instance.

Here is the catch though; in advance, you never know when this point arrives, as the pool of potential investors, the willingness of the previously entered investors to hold, and several other factors are unknown. That said, as the market matures, it will be harder and harder to sustain the gains that drove the valuations far from reality already, and the market will be more and more similar to an old-fashioned pyramid scheme, where the last entrants lose almost everything.There were several potential tops along the way, just as it has been the case with BTC, and the majority of the most successful long-term investors sold very early, in line with their tested strategies.

The Crypto-Boom is Legit, But…

Important: Never invest (trade with) money you can't afford to comfortably lose. Always do your own research and due diligence before placing a trade. Read our Terms & Conditions here. Trade recommendations and analysis are written by our analysts which might have different opinions. Read my 6 Golden Steps to Financial Freedom here. Best regards, Jonas Borchgrevink.

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4.7 stars on average, based on 96 rated postsTrader and financial analyst, with 10 years of experience in the field. An expert in technical analysis and risk management, but also an avid practitioner of value investment and passive strategies, with a passion towards anything that is connected to the market.

Trading 101: Moving Averages and Moving Average Strategies

What are Moving Averages?

Moving Averages are among the most popular trend indicators in Technical Analysis. They provide a simple, yet powerful visualization of the ongoing trends in an asset. They are used for a wide variety of reasons, primarily for trend following and reversal strategies.

Simply put moving averages are connected points calculated for every day (or whatever the timeframe is). The calculation itself is simple; you take a given number of previous days and calculate their average. Of course, you don’t have to do the calculations yourself. All basic charting software and trading platforms do the math for you and plot the moving average (or up to dozens of averages for that matter) on the chart of the asset.

How to Interpret Moving Averages?

Important: Never invest (trade with) money you can't afford to comfortably lose. Always do your own research and due diligence before placing a trade. Read our Terms & Conditions here. Trade recommendations and analysis are written by our analysts which might have different opinions. Read my 6 Golden Steps to Financial Freedom here. Best regards, Jonas Borchgrevink.

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4.7 stars on average, based on 96 rated postsTrader and financial analyst, with 10 years of experience in the field. An expert in technical analysis and risk management, but also an avid practitioner of value investment and passive strategies, with a passion towards anything that is connected to the market.

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